Herold describes the overall outfitting as good, but, curiously, also says the camp, the meals and the guiding were poor. More importantly he never saw a bear on his hunt: "There were no bears to see. Fresh tracks were equally absent. Best we did was to observe three snow rabbits hightailing-it after we disturbed their little get together. There were plenty of bears, apparently, at other camps, and a fellow hunter, Richard Yenchesky, took a nice brown bear at the Two Yurt Camp."
Herold says he was simply in the wrong camp and that the only way to get to the other camp was by helicopter, which would have incurred enormous charges. Thus, no attempt was made to transfer him. The other problem Herold had was with his guide. "Anton, the son of the outfitter, is one of the least personable PHs I have ever encountered," says Herold. "That strikes me as very strange, because Victor is truly a very nice and personable sort, the kind of guy to have a beer or two with. Presumably, Anton spoke some English, but he didn't with me. But language was not the problem. I have hunted in Russia before with guides who spoke none of the languages I speak, but we had a marvelous time communicating with hand signals, gestures and a few common words of hunting-understanding. Victor's son clearly lacked the requisite experience to be guiding." Herold goes on to say that snow conditions were not favorable and caused problems getting around. They got stuck several times in deep snow with the snowmobile. He says Anton pulled him on a sled behind the snowmobile and sent him flying through the air several times, barely missing trees, while making........(continued)
